SAC Board

Company Directors

Rebecca Roth

Chair – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined Board February 2016

Rebecca is a former studio and retail resident at Salamanca Arts Centre from 2009-2015. Rebecca established her resin jewellery and design business in 2003 and gained 13 years’ experience in brand and business development with her jewellery and design products. Rebecca also has 10 years’ experience as a casual stallholder at Salamanca Market. After growing her business and travelling to design markets across Australia and gaining wholesale connections in galleries and giftshops across Australia she hung up her tools in 2015 to focus on her young family.

Whilst holding her tenancy at SAC Rebecca became an active member in the arts community in Tasmania and became focused on mentoring emerging artists to reach their creative and economic potential. She has five years’ experience in curating exhibitions in her former retail space Rebecca Roth Gallery.

Rebecca co-founded ‘The Market’, a Hobart designers and makers market established in 2009 to help foster and commercialise some of Tasmania’s emerging artists and makers. Rebecca’s passion remains in assisting emerging.

Rebecca also holds extensive sales and marketing experience within the health, hospitality, tourism and conference and events industries.

Ross Byrne

Secretary/Treasurer – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined Board May 2011

Director of accounting and consulting firm BDO. Director for Forensic Services for BDO Tasmania. Has been a business advisor for over thirty years. Ross has extensive experience in corporate governance and is a regular presenter for the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He currently acts as Chairman of the DHHS Risk Management Committee and Chairman of Driver Safety Services Australia Pty Ltd.

Gerald Loughran

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined Board Sept 2011

Gerald Loughran joined the Board in 2011 to fill a casual vacancy. In May 2012 he was appointed to the SAC Board by the Minister for the Arts. Gerald Loughran has extensive experience serving as Chairman and Director of public and private companies in banking, manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism and retail and was founding Chair of the Tasmanian Community Fund. Previously, Gerald served as Chairman and Managing Director of his family-owned electrical and furnishing business. He is a past Director and currently a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Gerald is President of the Tasmanian University Foundation.

Qualifications & memberships include: Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Lisa Free

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined Board May 2009

Experience: Lisa is the Marketing and Communications Manager for Tasplan Super. Her experience is extensive in brand development and developing and executing marketing, communication and engagement strategies. She is also Director of Marketing, Media and Sponsorship for Phoenix Basketball Association.

Dr Mary Ann Hunter

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined the SAC Board May 2016

Mary Ann Hunter is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education where she teaches and supervises in the fields of arts education and drama and performance studies. Mary Ann’s research interests focus on the role of the arts and creative practice in education and applied settings. She is interested in interdisciplinary enquiry and her experience is in qualitative and arts-based methods of research and evaluation in school, industry and community contexts.

Mary Ann has worked across a range of contexts, including in government, freelance media, creative industry and community-based positions. Prior to joining UTAS, she was Lecturer in Drama and Performance at the University of Queensland, where she was also a Research Associate with the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. Alongside national and international consultancy work in cultural policy development, mentoring, evaluation and curriculum design, Mary Ann has produced feature programs for ABC Radio National, was a reviewer and State contributing editor for Real Time+Onscreen, and was start-up coordinator for meenah mienne, an arts-based mentoring program founded by Elders and artists supporting Aboriginal young people in the justice system in Tasmania. Mary Ann serves on the editorial panel of About Performance and is an advisory board member and former co-editor of Australasian Drama Studies. A current committee member of Drama Tasmania, she also contributes to community-based initiatives in creative health. Awards include: Teaching Merit Certificate (UTAS), Most Effective Teacher Commendations (UQ), the Australian Philip Parsons Prize for Performance as Research (ADSA), Deans’ List Award for Outstanding PhD Research (UQ), and a Flinders University Medal.

Chris Tassell

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined the SAC Board August 2016

Chris Tassell has extensive experience in arts and cultural heritage management including as Director of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston and Managing Director of the National Trust Tasmania. He has served on a wide range of arts and heritage Boards at regional, state and national level including the Australia Council.
During his time as Museum Director he oversaw the Museum’s redevelopment of the former Tasmanian Railways Workshops at Inveresk, which entailed the insertion of contemporary museum facilities into one of the state’s most significant industrial heritage sites.

Essen Bradbury

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined the SAC Board August 2017

Essen Bradbury works as a legal practitioner with Finlay Watchorn, where he practises in the areas of commercial and property law, and wills and deceased estates. Essen also has a Bachelor of Commerce and has worked with both accounting firms KPMG and BDO. He has also served as chairman of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (Tasmanian division). Essen’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Laws, and a Bachelor of Commerce with majors in accounting and corporate governance.

Dr Kate Burton

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined the SAC Board August 2017

Kate is a policy advisor at the Tasmanian Council of Social Service, which advocates for the interests of low-income and disadvantaged Tasmanians. Kate has a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Australian National University in Canberra and has extensive experience in research, policy and communications roles in Canberra, Sydney and Tasmania.

Between 2009 and 2014 Kate ran her own photography business, which focused on portraits, weddings and documentary work. Kate believes strongly in the role of the arts in contributing to wellbeing in communities, and she brings to the SAC Board skills in creating and strengthening initiatives and relationships that help to achieve this.

Rachel Edwards

Director – Salamanca Arts Centre; joined the SAC Board August 2017

Rachel Edwards is the editor in chief of Transportation Press, is the Non-fiction editor of Open Road Review, South Asia’s leading magazine of literature and culture, a regular guest on ABC radio discussing books and publishing, and was host of the long running Book Show on Edge Radio, in the guise of Paige Turner.

Rachel is a freelance writer and reviewer and her work has appeared in The Australian, on Radio National and in The Mercury. She is a former editor of Island Magazine and guest-edited a volume of the Review of Australian Fiction which featured Tasmanian authors exclusively. She runs a consultancy on the writing, editing and publishing processes and has worked as Writer in Residence with younger onset dementia clients at Alzheimer’s Tasmania.